#love me some berkut

[f-15-h]

Black shadow earth mode I guess

[todayisafridaynight]

this isn't related to rgg at all but finding out you're also a fire emblem fan was great... first the mention of the ike figure then the insane por prices LMAO? i had no idea... what games have you played?

Back In My Day i was known as ‘the eliwood/elihec guy’ and on occasion The Ike Guy LOL but yeah…. Guilty as charged……

As for the games ive played ive played Shadow Dragon (DS remake), Shadows of Valentia, and then FE6-FE3H + FEW (minus Heroes of Light and Shadow)

im an asshole for playing on authentic software hence why i skipped out on FE1-FE5 but maybe one day ill stop being annoying and pick them up on an emulator. Or IntSYS remakes them <- doubtful (well. The rest of the JP-exclusive games anyway lol)

[good-beans]

Still having tons of fun imagining FE Echoes characters as Disney fairies. @good-beans kindly suggested that Forsyth would be a clapping talent fairy. Since I am an aficionado of the Diseny Fairies Cinematic Universe and less familiar with the novels, I was not sure how that works. But some googling told me that “clapping talent” means that a fairy can teleport to the human world, which I think works great for Forsyth.

So I’ve been entertaining myself with the idea of Forsyth teleporting to the human world and the only human he meets who can talk to fairies is Berkut, who is not into the idea of talking to cute little winged being.

[blaiddllodi]

TOA Anniversary Munday

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

(Previous answers here on Raven's blog. Thanks for putting this together Neffi!)

Name: tches!

Pronouns: she/they

Birthday (no year): 22 Dec

Where are you from? What is your time zone? From Germany, but I live in Colorado

How long is your roleplay experience? A few years in 2005, and now my tenure here

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? Uhhhhh probably Yahoo chatrooms if I'm honest, but I spent most of my time in Livejournal communities

How were you introduced to TOA? I found it scrolling the Raven tag and I saw mirae's drop. Didn't join at this time. Then Elf advertised in a mutual server and I was like Hm. Maybe I will.

Do you have any pets? The server knows my beloved Coriander my baby my light my heart. I also live with two GSDs, Ursa and Solo.

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) I love you winter, I love you snow, I love you December, I love you.

What is your IRL occupation? Handwaves IT. I'm helpdesk at my current place, but I've begun learning network infrastructure stuff recently.

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? I like languages and history, esp Meiji Japan and Mughal India. I used to be a lot more active, and I still generally enjoy yoga and rock climbing, but I've accrued some injuries which prevent me from doing this as much as I'd like. Sadge.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Ace Attorney, Assassin's Creed, Dragon Age, Bloodborne, Witcher, Kingdom Hearts.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Ice or Dragon I think; and Gyarados my beloved my friend my partner (although Delibird is a very close second I love that little dude)

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! (Optional bonus challenge: if you filled this out last year, try not to repeat what you said back then!) One time a drunk driver scraped my ex-husband's car pulling out of the bar and while he was so flabbergasted that it had happened, me and a friend who had just gotten out of the Navy broke into a sprint to chase the girl down for three blocks before she left the neighborhood.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? My father and I were in the PX and I grabbed Blazing because it had just come to the States and it looked interesting.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? All but Archanea and Tellius. I started Path of Radiance, and put it down at chapter 15 when I got busy. I'll pick it back up again I promise :sob:

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: First is Blazing and favorite is...probably Blazing still. Elibe is just home to me. I really really like Three Houses and Shadows of Valentia though.

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Oh gosh. Raven number one forever, and Dima and Berkut are up there. I'll list five who aren't my roster, in no particular order: Hubert, Hector, Lyon, Priscilla, Lachesis.

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! Wil. Wil was my first favorite, followed by Matthew. I genuinely loved them so so much my first playthrough I gave them everything.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Jeralt can still get it.

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays?- Awakening: Another accidental Chrom victim - probably Lonk or Freddie Fates: I genuinely don't remember if it was Kaze or Jakob - Probably still Kaze Three Houses: Claude - Hubert is my favorite S support he's really good Engage: I literally hard swerved from Diamant the moment Pandreo came on screen I don't think anyone's taking his crown.

Favorite Fire Emblem class? I just really like the Merc-Hero line 🙈But I also love wyverns

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? Infantry sword. I hate to say I'd be a Navarre archetype but I honestly probably would be. Middling strength and con but workable with attention, decent speed, absolutely ridiculous crit stat. Surprisingly high resistance. I'd be a good candidate for Dancer or Mortal Savant.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Unaffiliated civilian, but can be swayed to join a cause after some effort. I tend to keep myself a bit at arms length, and it can be difficult sometimes to get my genuine loyalty.

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Sword, Bow Bane: Flying Budding Talent: Heavy Armor

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? No lie, probably Brodia. My family is full of soldiers on all sides

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?) Depends on the flow of the sentence. Sometimes toe-ah, sometimes T-O-A

Current TOA muses: Raven, Dimitri, Berkut

Past TOA muses? Sigurd, Igrene, Saber, Petra, Beowolf, Lyn

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Raven my heart my forever. If he hasn't been pried from my grasp for the last twenty years, I can't imagine what might.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? I like it when grief and love carve someone into a weapon. I love rage and deep, boundless sorrow. And I occasionally like when they get a little slutty, I'm not a monster.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? 🤔Hard to say. I like to think my range is pretty good. I've been writing for long enough that I don't really wish - I just do it. I think anyone could write anyone if they genuinely put their heart into it.

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? I like when the narrator is a little unreliable. I like when there's so much emotion that everything becomes just a little bit fuzzy an indistinct, like they're suddenly underwater and haven't realized they're drowning. I like when the narrative is circular and I can call back five posts, or when I can bookend things - dramatic irony my beloved. I love miscommunication, especially when one person takes something and runs with it (RIP Sigurd you were the king of this and your never-shuts-up).

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? I've been in an AU mood lately. I want more AUs - coffeeshop AU, horror movie tropes AU, cross-fiction AU. There was an idea that I had that I'd like to build up a bit more that I may drop a call for 🙊

Favorite TOA-related memories? All of Raven's threads with elysia's Priscilla and kanoesa's Lucius 🤲I hold them like this. And unrelated to my muses I to this day can't get over And Now All Of TOA Knows You Tried To Kill Ryoma.

Present or past tense? Past. I use present tense pretty sparingly, and almost exclusively for one-off asks. Feels weird though.

Normal size text, small text, no preference? No preference. I use normal size out of laziness. The most formatting you'll get from me is italics for emphasis or for thought patterns.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 One day I will app Sommie and everyone will have a heart attack. You think I'm joking? You think this is a game?

[twistedisciple]

TOA Anniversary Munday

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is. Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing! Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together. Shared by Neffi | Template

Name: Ree

Pronouns: any

Birthday (no year): 4/23

Where are you from? What is your time zone? Currently in CST, US

How long is your roleplay experience? I grew up LARPing with the neighborhood kids so I want to say it's been a lifetime

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? I don't actually remember, but the earliest formative memory was an AtLA fansite with a live chat and RP forum. I wrote Suki

How were you introduced to TOA? I made it

Do you have any pets? Two calicoes, and one of them is older than some members here

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) Spring is so hopeful after the dreary winter

What is your IRL occupation? For simplicity's sake, data administrator

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? Languages, psychology, dreams, religion and myth, music, learning in general, the horror genre

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? SMT, Pokemon, Monster Hunter, Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Wuthering Waves, Onmyoji, various indie horror games

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Dark: Scrafty

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! I have a good sense of hearing

How did you get into Fire Emblem? SSB

What Fire Emblem games have you played? All

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: Awakening was the first, favorite is Shadows of Valentia

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! In no particular order: Hubert, Griss, Marni, Libra, Salem

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! Tharja during my first Awakening playthrough. Love me a freaky goth girl

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Nope

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Chrom > Now: Libra - Fates: Hinata > Now: probably also Hinata - Three Houses: Edelgard > Now: Hubert - Engage: none

Favorite Fire Emblem class? Summoners

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? Some sort of pre-promoted res tank, recruited late and 100% missable without meeting the right requirements

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Black Eagles all the way

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Reason, Bow Banes: Heavy Armor Budding Talent: Faith

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? Solm for the vibes

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔 Toh-ah

Current TOA muses: Just Griss

Past TOA muses? Julius, Hubert, Aelfric, Pelleas, Berkut, Salem, Fáfnir, Limstella, Jeritza, Shinon

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Hubert. Picking him up again would depend on whether or not I replayed 3H

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? It's hard to say these days. I like dynamic characters because I've hit too many walls over the years where threads stagnate because neither me nor my partner are able to move the scene in a meaningful way. I'm here to have fun, not slog through threads just to get the point at the end, so writing lively, aggressive, or bratty characters has allowed me to always have an emergency button on hand. Outside of that, I enjoy the concept of leadership in a guardian sense. What it means to protect a community, etc. I don't like writing kings and queens, so I prefer characters who have this on a smaller scale. Perne, for example, who leads the Dandelion Gang. I've also joked with Rai that I tend to pick up men who are subservient to some sort of powerful woman. With that said, lately I've been feeling the itch to return to my roots as a melancholy knight writer.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? I think I could give anything a good run if I tried

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? Sceeeeenes. I love describing vistas. I love placing characters in a fleshed out world. No one exists in a vacuum, and how characters arrange themselves and interact with the environment around them is just as important as what they're doing and thinking.

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? Not at the moment. For Griss, I always take scenarios as they come, and that usually evolves into new and unexpected things

Favorite TOA-related memories? You!

Present or past tense? Past tense. But I'll match my partner

Normal size text, small text, no preference? No preference

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 I don't think anything will come of it anytime soon, but lately Jeritza and Zeke have been stirring in the mind palace

[judgeanon]

Plastic Skies - Model 13: F-15E Strike Eagle "Garuda 1"

Near the end of last year, I bought a sheet of bootleg decals to make my Mobius-1 F-22 Raptor (as seen here!). The sheet had a lot more decals than just the Mobius ones. Some were for planes I had no interest in doing, some ended up in my old decal-less Berkut model, and some inspired the model I'd end up building right after the Area 88 Tiger. After all, I knew sooner or later I'd end up making an F-15. Even if I'm not its biggest fan.

Yeah, yeah, I dunno, I just don't like the F-15 Eagle. I know it's the backbone of the USAF and a fantastic plane and it does everything and the story of how it was conceived is super funny, but there's something about it that just doesn't spark anything in me. It's just... a fighter plane. Much like the Flanker platform, it always felt like the most standard example of Fighter Jet to me, without the cool swing wings of the Tomcat or the sleek small shape of the F-16. There's no such thing as a boring fighter jet, but the F-15 is close.

That's not to say we don't have some history. One of the last models my brother built back when we were kids was an absolutely massive (for us) 1/48 scale Eagle. As with all our models, it was glued together and not much else, and I distinctively remember it losing one of its tail fins somewhere underneath a bed. Still, the thing was huge to us, and I always remember it as the biggest model we ever had. But that's about as much fondness as I have for the Eagle.

Or at least, as much as I had until Ace Combat happened.

Although the Eagle is very prominent in several AC games, the important one for this model is Ace Combat 6: Fires of Rubi--I mean Fires of Liberation, for the Xbox 360. This was one of the very last Ace Combat games I tried during my "I want to play all of them phase", since although PS1, PS2, PSP and 3DS emulation are all pretty good right now, Xbox 360 emulation is not quite there, and has apparently been not quite there for years now. I should know, I tried. But earlier this year, a very generous and dear friend of mine offered me an old Xbox 360 which he'd come into possession and was using to try some cool hacker stuff. And soon, I was finally getting to play AC6.

The game itself is great, as are all Ace Combats. It has a really interesting "large-scale battle" system, where different units are doing their own thing and you can choose which ones to support. It has the first appearance of high-g turns, which I love. It has a killer soundtrack, but that's no surprise. It has a really frustrating boss fight followed by a really amazing final level. And it has one of the most gloriously OP fictional jets in the series. Its story isn't quite as engaging as the PS2 games but I'm very glad I played it. And as seen above, the game's cover star is the F-15E, a plane for which I already had the decals to make.

So as I was finishing up the Tiger, I knew what the next project would be.

This was also going to be my first Academy model kit. Academy is a Korean model kit company that as far as I can tell sits quite comfortably in the middle ground of model kit quality. They make decent stuff for a good price with solid plastic quality, although some reviewers note a few glaring accuracy issues. I don't really care about accuracy when it comes to models, especially not at the price I found this, so I got to work pretty quickly.

The cockpit was the first step. Emboldened by my work on the Tiger, I tried to really make it shine this time, adding those little extra dabs of red to the flightsticks and other touches. Unfortunately, the decal sheets were a bit too wide for the panels, so they ended up getting warped and stretched. It looks pretty bad, but once inside the plane, I figured it wouldn't be visible. And I was right! Althouh what is visible are some of the corners where I skimped or forgot to paint, something which I'm definitely trying to work on in my latest kits.

The main fuselage was a much easier fit than the Raptor, although not quite as easy as the Tiger. The Eagle is a big motherfucker, after all, so putting it together requires a lot of pressure in different spots. Unfortunately, it also resulted in some plastic melting around a few corners, but only in the underside, and only on one wing. It was still a good lesson that made me want to invest in better cement, but it'd take a while for me to actually do it.

I decided the next step would be the nozzles, which is where this particular kit goes a bit fucking nuts. The F-15's thrusters feature external fairing arms for their variable geometry nozzles, which is way easier to explain with a picture:

And if you're observant, you can go back to that first picture of all the model's sprues and see how this kit handles that. But just in case:

The parts in green are the 30 (!) parts necessary to build just the two exhaust nozzles. The parts in orange are Academy offering people who aren't insane a way out, with two fully built nozzles with "turkey feather" panels instead of the arms. Which is very thoughtful of them, but after 12 models, I guess I was feeling a bit insane.

Admittedly, it wasn't rough sailing. The panels themselves didn't fit as well as I would've liked, and the faring arms required a very delicate touch. Still, I figured it'd all look at least decent once I went in with my beloved burnt iron paint, and sure enough, the end result was mostly fine.

Around this time, I started running into what's become my weak point this far into model building: indecisiveness. It's easy to think that models are "put them together first, then paint, then decals, then varnish, then panel lining, then clear coat", and some cheap kits are perfectly capable of following that order. But the more experienced I get and the bigger kits I try, the more I find myself playing with that order, doing things like painting certain parts of the plane first before gluing, or even fully detailing things like tail wings before I'm even done painting the fuselage.

Which sounds smart and is the way to do until you're staring at four different tasks and you just don't know what you should start on now. In this model's case, one of the biggest problems was armaments.

This isn't even all of it, btw. This is still missing the eight other missiles I also had to paint. Though I will say, as messy as the yellow tips on the Mk 82 bombs are, I'm still a little proud of the way I figured out to paint them roughly similar:

It's not perfect, but nothing is. However, the armaments thing was something that bothered me all the way to the end of the build.

Painting the fuselage was a way different story. One of the reasons why I chose AC6's F-15 was precisely because it's just one big color. No camo jobs, no masking tape save for the yellow bits on the tail wings, just me and my brushes and a newly bought box of Revell Greenish Grey paint. That paint is... an odd one. Looks absolutely disgusting when wet, like the insides of a toilet after eating some very unhealthy food, but once it dries out and especially once varnished it looks... kinda cool? Kinda awesome? It just has way more personality than the usual air superiority grays of most USAF fighters.

The other part of the build that was surprisingly comfortable was the landing gear, since this model only has one door for each gear. Made the whole thing go by in a breeze, and before I knew it, I was already putting in the decals. At least the big ones. Admittedly, they're not 100% game accurate, since AC6 uses low visibility versions of the emblems and such, but they were there and I wasn't not gonna use them.

Panel lining was also shockingly easy for this kit. Although I'm still pretty lousy at it, the kit's panel lines were very well defined and easy to get the paint in. Compared to other kits I've had, this one was very well behaved when it came to this step. Sooner than I'd expected, the whole thing seemed almost ready to be done. I just had to finish the armaments and we'd be all done.

So... yeah. You might notice something missing here. As it turns out, this kit doesn't actually have enough parts to put the 12 green bombs I'd painted besides the Mk 82. They're supposed to go three alongside the edges of the conformal fuel tanks (where the missiles now are) and three on the little chunks poking out of the sides. But for whatever reason, this kit only has four of those little chunks instead of six. And due to some issues with the instructions, I think I also glued the ones it did have wrong.

On top of that, I had some issues gluing the hardpoints with the Sidewinders and Mk-82 bombs to the wings, mostly because hey, protip: gluing stuff that's already painted and varnished is waaaay harder than gluing stuff when it's fresh off the box. But I just had to be a smart boy and get all the panel lining done first... Very frustrating, especially after realizing this, too, isn't game accurate. But it'd never really been my goal to make something perfectly accurate to the game. Like with the Raptor, like with every kit I make, I'll always choose what looks good to me over what looks closer to the real (or virtual) thing.

Eventually, the whole thing was done. Painting the cockpit was tricky but I've lost a lot of my old fears about it these days. And once the whole thing was varnished, I found myself really liking what I was seeing. The long nose, the beefy wings, the shiny engines... Maybe I'd been wrong about the F-15 all this time. Maybe it isn't really a boring jet. Maybe I just needed to let it back into my heart. And although it gave me a real tough time in a bunch of places, at the end it's low-key one of my favorite models so far, and a nice homage to an unsung game.

And it looks pretty cool on the Area 88 base too.

[minimutty]

Ok! I finally finished Fire Emblem Echoes! Gonna share my thoughts on the game and stuff below. Of course there might be spoilers, I played this game almost blind except the stuff spoiled to me by FEH.

Here we goooo

Art and Voice Acting: 10/10 absolutely beautiful. I particularly love Berkut's he did an absolutely great job. Fernand also. VA also gave Mae and Boey some great and funny lines, really fleshed em out.

Gameplay

A lot different than I was used to. The previous game I played was FE10, which was much more similar to the other FE games I played (6, 7, 8, 9). Healing/spells use HP. One inventory slot. No durability. No item management. No rescuing. It was different but not unmanageable. I did miss rescuing though. You could heal by eating flour, though, which was neat.

I played on Normal/Classic bc I'm a filthy casual, I think I only got Mathilda killed (I legit didn't even notice. Maybe I autobattled through it? I normally rewind if some1 dies.) Most enemies do like 1dmg, biggest thing was being ganged up on.

Plot

Nothing groundbreaking but not terrible imo. Guys go north, beat up dragon, shenanigans along the way. The relationship b/n Alm & Celica felt forced, I don't think any 10yo (however old they were) act that lovey dovey, felt very fairytale predestined unrealistic. Plus the whole beginning part of "your station doesnt matter" but oh look Alm is secretly destined to be King and he has a magic mark that makes him the chosen one so yeah nvm your station totally matters, haha. If I suddenly found out I was to be king after like 17years of not, I'd be a lil more reluctant than he was. I know about the controversy of Celica giving her soul but I won't get into that. She felt pressured into it so it's whatever. The revival of Celica felt a bit contrived, but I guess they gotta get married somehow, huh.

Classes

Alm: kinda fell off mid game until I gave him the Blessed Bow. Bows felt better on him until he got the final Weapon(tm), but he wasn't very strong most game for me.

Celica: Pretty good early game for me, fell off around mid, used mostly as a healbot and Seraphim spammer for the zombie characters. Not bad but not notable imo. I didn't get her super special weapon apparently but she was just healbot and Seraphiming by end game.

Clerics/Mages/etc: Entirely healbots by the end for me, their magic wasn't strong enough (aside from Seraphim) to be useful and using HP to cast spells made them really not worth it for him.

Archers: Absolutely nuts. 5+ range on basic archers? And I thought Rolf was crazy. I had Kliff, Leon, Alm, and Python as my dedicated archers. Kliff was the best for me.

Mercenary/Myrmidons: Insane. Saber was insane. 47 consistent crit and always doubles? He could legit toe with the final boss for a bit. Crazy movement range too. I had he solo parts of the map he was so good.

Armor: Actually not bad. I didn't use them previous games bc they had too lil move and still got nuked by mages. Here mages aren't as bad and they made good tanks. Lukas is legit the best character in the game in terms of character. Ace rep hype, haha.

Conclusion

Uhh, anyway. I had a good time with the game. The dungeon crawling parts were a bit annoying and exhaustive, so I had to take breaks from those, but other than that it wasn't bad. I had a good time. The upgraded graphics and animations were definitely a step up from RD imo.

[cynical-gamer-media]

Hey Cyn, if you don't mind me asking, any thoughts on the Conquest cast?

I am absolutely happy to answer!

So I believe I am roughly half-way through the game, so this is a half-way impression. I will make a final one when I finish the game! (Haven't played Birthright yet).

So far I am loving Conquest.

I love Corrin. There is a lot of interesting elements and character development with them through Conquest's storyline. I find them compelling.

I am utterly perplexed with the hatred of Corrin. 'They're stupidly naive' they literally have been sheltered for their entire life? Didn't even know what BUGS looked like (Silas Support). 1/2

Also they are not nearly as naive as people make them out to be. They acknowledge how screwed up Nohr is. The idea to change within is extremely smart. They are hopeful. 2/2

'Everything centres around them' because they have ROYAL siblings in Nohr and Hoshido? They have influence in the ruling families, so of course all focus on Corrin??? Also wow siblings love their sibling or are angry with them so of course they'd focus on them???

I love the Nohr siblings so much. Each one of them is distinct. You can see how they truly care for one another, through one-on-one, a few at a time, and altogether. You can feel the love they have for Corrin and one another. Positive sibling bonds whoo!

Xander is playing the politics well. We don't see a lot of politics, but we still have an understanding of it through how he knows how his father acts. Kind and stern older brother.

Camilla is fascinating. She either acts sultry around others to appease them or to lower their guards, or overly doting mother-figure to the siblings (clearly they didn't know their mother well). Far smarter than she lets on. Love that.

I love Leo acting as 'I am a true Nohr noble, father; I do not care about bonds' in front of Grado, but we see that it is an act to not be seen as being far kinder and compassionate then he lets on.

I love how Elise, while being chirpy and optimistic, is no fool. The fact she's all 'if you kill Corrin, Father, then kill me too' with zero hesitation shows that she is unfortunately used to his abuse and rule. She's also shown to be cunningly smart like Leo.

I love how they are actually plotting against their abusive father without trying to rouse his suspicions.

Azura is way more fascinating than I expected! Eager to get her supports with the Nohr siblings (or if I miss out: watch online). So far my favourite supports have to do with her.

I love the dichotomy between Nohr siblings and Hoshido. The Hoshido group give me a vibe of 'royals first, family second', and I don't really feel that Takumi is close to his siblings. Nohr feels like 'siblings and royals'.

Silas is a wonderful character that needs more love damn it!

Jakob has more going for him than I thought when checking certain supports (Azura)! I like him!

Arthur is a caricature, sure, but I find him strangely endearing? I guess because he is so over-the-top (and reminds me of Sky High from 'Tiger and Bunny').

Effie is a godsend in battle.

Benny's taciturn nature intrigues me, funnily enough!

There's something likeable about Kaze, even though I don't know much about his personality through story.

I feel nothing for Nyx, Selena, Berkut and Gunter so far. Mainly because I benched them, and not a fan of the 'Awakening gang is here too; do you remember Awakening!?? (Selena, Laslow, etc).

Niles, Odin (Awakening I know), and Peri being 'torture chamber time' just makes me grin. What a bunch to be retainers to the Nohr siblings!

Charlotte is great. I laughed at her introduction. Her story is fun; acting cutesy to bag some rich partner, but actually has a sailor-mouth (well, the more kid friendly version).

Keaton's introduction also made me laugh, but he seems like a fun character!

[randomnameless]

"even if IS just said she was the villain and needed to be stopped, clear as day, people would reject it." Let's be real: the moment people started using "death of the author" to reject the Nintendo dream interview where IS confirms Supreme Leader is the villain, that's when we should've realized that people have already made up their minds and don't care anymore. It's like telling a flat-earther that the earth is not flat or trying to debunk a conspiracy theory to believers of that theory.

Tbh, I agree sometimes with disregarding the author's intent, especially in some games where the "author" wants to push "feels" and tells the olayer how they should react.

Take Berkut for instance, for a reason I still don't understand, SoV wants to paint him as a tragic figure, who ultimately redeems himself dying. You're supposed to feel bad for Berkut and sad for what happened, to the point where Alm, the Hero - who was challenged on earlier opinions - plainly states Duma is the reason why Berkut turned sour, and no one is here to tell him "uh no sorry to tell you but your cousin was a bona fide asshole".

Ditto for the devs's lunar interview about Clout's story being a "heart-warming story", like no, sorry, no matter how much you push for it, I personally don't think his story is heart warming, rather it's blood boiling.

Does it mean I use the "death of the author" like the people we're talking about?

Yeah, maybe!

But what is more gratting about those people isn't how they use DoA to make up their own canon and story (everyone can make headcanons!), but how they push their headcanon on everyone's lawns and asking for everyone else to treat it as the truth - the Aeneid is the perfect example, people really rec this fanfiction to have a "better understanding" of canon characters, or some people said it understands the characters better than the canon does. For a fanfic, sure, it's cool and all*, but to treat this as canon?

Like, there is no discussion possible between people who argue canon and others who argue using headcanons and imo that's the crux of the discourse bcs FE Fodlan is vague about 70% of its worldbuilding.

I don't like Berkut and believe he toasted Rinea because he loved being Rudolf's heir more than he loved her, but FE15 makes it uwu clear that Berkut apparently loved Rinea a lot and apparently torched her just because Duma promised him power, which makes somehow Duma the reason why Rinea was Bernie'd.

But you won't see me pop up in a discussion about FE15 or people talking about their favourite ships in that game to point out how Berkut burnt his fiancée at stake for "power" on his own volition - canon is canon - even when it blows - I'd rather rant about it and have my own HC in this space rather than piss canon-lovers/users with it.

Saying in your hcs Supreme Leader isn't the villain of the game?

Sure, do whatever you want, have a nice day, eat a sandwich, whatever. Maybe some people will join you, share your sandwich and you'll have fun developping hcs!

Saying in canon Supreme Leader isn't the villain and disregarding the dev's interviews?

That's going to be more problematic, in a way that this specific interview isn't subjective or open to interpretation (thus hcs, like Sylvia being FE4!Claude's relative or not), so people are going to disagree and be more vocal about it.

Some other blogs already explained it, but it seems like FE Fodlan attracted a lot of persons who aren't used to fandom, as in a place with transformative works and where making OCs and fics and having headcanons isn't "BaD" - so they try to retrofit canon in their headcanons because "fanfics" and transformative works are BaD etc etc (insert the general dislike for fanfictions from the early 2000s (?) and the regular/usual insults towards people who write fanfiction from the same era (them being fujos, etc etc)) so they're not writing fanfictions or arguing headcanons, no, they're just writing "totally meta pieces that are better than the canon".

Imo, the second you're disregarding canon to write something about a work, you're writing a fanfic (let it be a "real fic", random hcs, etc etc etc) and that's totally fine! You're not a "fujo degenerate" for not liking the canon and "rewritting" scenes, or building more stories about a character your like!

What's not "fine" is forcing everyone to adopt your headcanons and fanfictions - if the flower is red, you cannot force people to admit the flower is blue, otoh, if you write a story where the flower isn't red but blue, it's your story and you can whatever you want with it! Ditto with fanfic writers when someone argues canon against them, dude, you're reading a story where the author wrote the flower to be blue, like they gaf about the flower's canonical colour to be red - it's a fanfic!

Don't like, Don't read!

*not withstanding with the actual quality and body of the Aeneid, which isn't something I'd personally call cool or "alright", but that's another debate.

[fayesdiary]

9, 18 and 32 for the meme?

9) Did you like the map exploration and why?

I like the exploration where you are in Alm and Celica's PoV and can just look around for stuff a lot! Examining the background is great and all the flavor text does wonders for Alm and Celica's characterization. It's also really funny.

But for the rest... the overworld exploration is really annoying with the endless reinforcements especially if they attack you first (had some units in my Ironman runs die because they got the first turn and I couldn't do jack about it), and the dungeons are fun at first but get kinda tedious on repeated playthroughs.

18) Who's your favorite VA performance?

Boring response but, come on. Ian Sinclair by far, Berkut would be nowhere the character he is without his performance.

But honestly, every voice actor in this game is wonderful. Especially Kyle McCartney for Alm!

32) Do you ship any rarepairs? What drew you to them?

Oh, do I!?

In order:

Faye/Celica: Childhood friends to lovers, it having a slight base in canon with Faye actually thinking highly of Celica (or at the very least, she's happy to see her if Celica comes to visit Ram in Act 2), kinda has the same sugar star-crossed lovers vibes Alm/Celica has except Faye is actually a villager with no strings attached, Faye getting over Alm only to realize she has a thing for Celica, them being the only girls in Ram so probably Faye was Celica's best friend in Ram excluding Alm...

I could go on, really, but the short story is it has a lot of potential of both fluff and angst and there are a bunch of quality fanfics that got me into the rarepair to begin with!

Faye/Rinea: It has a lot of what makes Faye/Celica good with the whole farmer/nobility thing going, but also you're pairing the two women who arguably got fucked over by the narrative the most.

In-universe it makes a lot of sense, too, two women who placed their whole identity around a man with it ending in tragedy of both finding comfort and meaning in each other. Has a lot of both fluff and angst potential, especially with Witch Rinea being a thing.

Also I wrote a modern AU fluff fic about them which only made me get attached to the pair more. It's also the first proper fic about Faye/Rinea, something I love to brag about!

Celica/Rinea: Completing the OT3. Red/Blue dynamic, both noblewomen and also Celica would give Rinea all the love she deserves! Also look at this fanart come on

Celica/Clair: I feel Clair would definitely crush hard on Celica. As most women seem to do, really. Also dunno, I think it fits!

Sonya/Catria: They pretty😳 Also, similar cool/chill vibes!

Palla/Mathilda: It literally just came up to me. I think it fits a lot.

Python/Silque: Similar color scheme, looks cute, also shipping the cynical lazy bastard with the tireless devout healer is always nice!

Clair/Gray/Tobin: Not really a rarepair per se, but I don't really think it's popular as an OT3? I don't know, I think the dynamic could be a lot of fun! (Even if I don't think Clair and Tobin like each other romanticall)

There are definitely some rarepairs I forgot, I often see a lot of pics with rarepairs I end up loving which is why it turned into a tag! #echoes rarepairs my beloved

[frickingnerd]

of broken hearts and promises

pairing: berkut x gn!reader

summary: berkut finds you crying and comforts you

you were quietly sobbing into berkut's chest as he held you in his arms, having them tightly wrapped around you. he didn't say a thing as he let you cry out your frustration, just holding you close and pressing soft kisses against your forehead. 

he knew he wasn't as good with words as some other men. he wasn't known for being a sensitive man, quite the opposite. and while you were the only one who got to see his soft side, he still knew he might not be able to say the right thing that would cheer you up. 

so he just held you in his arms for a while, letting you cry it all out. when you eventually stopped sobbing, exhausted from all the crying, berkut carefully carried you to bed and tucked you in. it didn't matter you were still dressed, you deserved to rest now. 

as you laid there, he sat down next to you for a moment, gently caressing your cheek and wiping away the remaining tears. 

"it'll all be alright, my love. i promise it! you don't have to worry about anything anymore; not when you're with me"

he smiled at you softly, but it seemed you had already passed out from exhaustion…

[childofaura]

Just curious tho…

What are your top 10 favourite characters from FE Echoes? It can either be from Alm or Celica’s party. But both can be acceptable.

Ooooh, that one will be fun. I’m hoping my list doesn’t go over the limit, but we’ll see.

So in no particular order:

Alm. Love his story, love his quest, love his STRUGGLES. He’s honestly probably my favorite FE “Noble” overall (and Dimitri is a close second) just for how compelling his arc is. His fight against his father Rudolf and his agony broke my heart. This kid has been through too much ;w;

Saber. We all know why. I kind of hate that I fell in love with him but I couldn’t help myself.

Luthier. Between him and Delthea, I ALWAYS used him, and shockingly he makes an incredible Dreadfighter. But also he’s an enjoyable character with his own flaws that make it hard for him to make friends. Also he’s a very beautiful man, lol. That fiery hair is pretty.

Berkut. Yes, he’s the villain but DAMN I think he’s one of the few villains in FEH who actually has a decent character besides “I am a cult leader therefore I am evil” or “I am a fallen god of some sort therefore I am evil”. Berkut has PERSONALITY! He has DIMENSION! He has an ARC! And a TRAGIC END! And honestly I want an Ascended Berkut in the vein of Legendary Sigurd/Deirdre where he’s a spirit, looking for his empire.

Rinea. I know she doesn’t do much but goodness, she’s such a sweetheart and shows that Rigelians aren’t all antagonistic assholes. Poor baby ;w;

Deen. I found him cooler than Sonya (sorry Sonya fans, I do like her a lot too) and he’s handsome. I’m weak for scars.

Jesse. He’s a flirt and a party boy, but I love his conversation with Celica where he reveals he ran away from his noble family because of the pressure. I really do think he’s kind of a prototype Sylvain and I hope he and Sylvain have a serious convo when he gets in FEH.

Leon. Talking about his character first and foremost, I love that he’s got a bit of a ‘tude, but he’s not unnecessarily mean or bitter to anyone. He sees the beauty of love in the world and I love that THAT is what he fights for when in his line against Duma. And I’ve said it before, but I think hands down he’s FE’s best LGBT rep.

Atlas. It’s a bit random, but I enjoyed his character being a simple woodcutter, but DAMN this man is capable of putting up a good fight. And he reminds me of Papa Nier with his appearance.

AUGH OK I HAVE TO MASH THESE TWO TOGETHER BECAUSE I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THEM BUT: PYTHON AND FORSYTHE. Love those guys, even if Python couldn’t shoot for absolute shit in my run. Forsythe is a sweetheart who believes in doing genuine good, and even if he’s lazy, I love that Python is so loyal to his best friend that he’ll always follow him.

I think that’s pretty much it, I do want to give a shout-out to Celica, Sonya, and Fernand because I think those guys are cool, too.

[cat-denied]

1, 9, & 11 for the salty asks?

thanks for asking! gonna go ahead and answer these for fire emblem since thats the fandom im most active in as a fandom

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

oh man, a lot. a lot of heterosexual ones, i feel like? alm/celica. merric/elice feels so abrupt and meaningless in the way that basically any of the non-main-protagonist NES game relationships do, even when they try to retcon it in in the remakes, because it just...forget chemistry, they don't have any interactions! like what!!

felix/sylvain. like, i dunno, i just don't really feel any emotions looking at these two. they are fine? they're fine. i don't...that's it. lmao

also, honestly to an extent i don't really get tharja/robin in awakening. like, i love both characters on their own, but they don't really gel for me in the same way they seem to for a whole lotta other people lol.

ALSO! not fire emblem and i am not in a "fandom" as such for full metal alchemist but shipping roy mustang and riza hawkeye Does Not Gel For Me. i get why people do it but like...i do not understand it.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

i bear grudges especially towards Arvis FE4 (because the narrative treats him as noble and well-intentioned, and basically just tells us that he means good without doing literally anything to back it up) and Gray Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (because i am so fucking sick to death of "guy bothers uninterested woman until she relents into having a relationship with him" AND they always end up in a fucking relationship in their end cards even if you didn't unlock any of their supports).

also shoutouts to olwen FE5, who rules hard and who i love don't get me wrong, but whose supporting cast (fred and reinhardt) are like...way less cool than her. i especially do not vibe with reinhardt, considering he chooses not to defect despite presumably knowing about the child hunts (!), meaning the intended arc of "tragically you cant recruit this cool dude" falls flat because...is he really that cool if he can't be arsed to stop perpetuating tangible horrific evils in fiction? then again, he is working with ishtar, who is described as saving as many kids as possible--but also that only gets mentioned in her other game, which means it's not brought up directly with reinhardt--look the point is i'm not interested in him he's a boring man and i don't know why he has sixteen different alts in Heroes when olwen has one. olwen is the cooler fucking sibling get a grip lmao

i also hate virion (any man who is introduced chasing after a vocally uninterested woman is not worth my while, doubly so if he does not have any sort of tangible character arc), berkut (GOD. AWFUL man. somehow manages to fridge his own wife??? you should be able to recruit rinea in echoes i am forever peeved about this. he's an excellent villain all the way up until you can't recruit rinea about it), and perne (because the narrative apparently believes that kidnapping and torturing a young girl into doing your bidding via frightening her with insects is, like, not a big deal you guys don't sweat it).

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

i love Kris from new mystery of the emblem, i think she rules, she's a goofus. big fan. also all the new mystery gang tbh. i would say i don't understand why people hate her so much, except i do, and it's the same old same old "everything was better in the old days, when we didn't have support conversations or characters with more than 1 line of dialogue" that you get in every fandom, but i've certainly noticed in fire emblem.

i love edelgard, but i wouldn't say the fandom doesn't: i would say some of the fandom doesn't, but it's a split it would seem. i fucking adore monica but so does everybody else with taste. i really like wendy (inasmuch as anyone in the binding blade has a character), admittedly half due to her class as armored knight and half out of spite at how her wiki page says she's non-viable, but there's a solid half in there to appreciate her on her own merits also. this is again a mixed opinion and not a totally unpopular one, but i love ingrid, i think her story arc is fascinating. i LOVE jill i think her story arc is super compelling, she's one of my favorites. look, i don't know, who's unpopular? if you get me a list of "unpopular" fire emblem characters i will probably pick out every woman on there and be like "aw cmon she's cool/underutilized/worthy of appreciation". except camilla.

thanks so much for asking! this was very fun.

[devotedrigelianflower]

~Meanwhile at Rigel Castle with Rinea | Guest star: @pieman1112 and @jasperlion~

"It is a shame that Lady Celica had to leave so soon. Will Lord Alm be alright?" Rinea asked Berkut as they were having a little break from the paperwork. Well it was mostly Berkut working on paperwork that Alm needed his help while Rinea was sorting through records to file them. "I don't envy him. Alm does not get to see Celica as often as he would like. Sometimes it can be for a few months to the point where even I feel sorry for him." Berkut told Rinea as it made him a little bit less bitter about not being the crown prince anymore. "...You know I always wondered about something...Do you remember that day at duma temple? I was at the entrance and became very afraid to go up to you. Then you froze for a moment as if you were struck on the head before you grabbed my hand and rushed us out of the temple. Did...did you see the same vision I did back then?" Rinea asked as she was curious as Berkut never told her why he had a sudden change of heart. Berkut gave a sigh before taking Rinea's hand. "...Getting flooded with the memories of being in Askr you mean?...Yes I did..." Berkut told her honestly. "...I didn't want to lose you...and turn into that...horrid fallen version." Berkut had refused to make the mistake that his other self had done. "... I wish we could tell that version of Lord Alm that we are safe and thank him for everything he has done for us..." Rinea said sadly before Berkut pulled her into a much needed hug. "... I know but all we can do now is... help the Alm we have now..." Berkut said before comforting Rinea for a bit. If anyone came in to see the sight then they would all think the couple was getting stressed about their upcoming wedding...

~*Meanwhile at the Main Sherington Manor with Josephine*~

"...and that's the whole story..." Josephine had just finished telling her parents and her older brother about Edith. She did made sure leave out the coup stuff as the less people knew about that the better until she reached Rigel Castle. She watched as her father sat on the sofa with her mother by his side. It was clear that her father was absolutely heart broken about it all. Not only to find out that Edith had been a Witch but that his own father lied to him about Edith being dead. "...I'm sorry you had to be the one to defeat her..." Her father said as he wished he could have taken that burden instead of his youngest child. The last shocking news he got from her was Josephine joining the Deliverance and that made him worry for her life. The last 2 years were not turning out as great as he had hoped. "...Let's all try to get some rest tonight. Josephine has to travel to the castle tomorrow." Her mother said as she wanted to make sure they send her off with a smile or at least try to. "... You're right...sleep well my children..." Her father said before letting his wife lead the way to their room.

"... Being close to the royal family really seems to bring you nothing but trouble." Her brother Reginald the III told his sister. "It's not their fault that witches are still out there. They are doing the best that they can." She told him sternly. "I know that... but a part of me wishes things would go back to they way were before the war." He told her honestly. "...but then the commoners would suffer greatly...and that's not right at all." Josephine said as being a part of the Deliverance made her see that. "Father would scold you for saying that you know." Josephine told her brother. "...yeah...I bet grandfather would as well... 'Shut your damn mouth and be grateful for what you have, boy!'..." Reginald the III said as he tried to sound like his old grandfather. This caused both of them to give out a small chuckle at reminiscing about their late grandfather. "...Grandfather would have really loved Lord Alm..." Reginald the III said sadly. Josephine looked over at the old family portrait that had their grandfather still hanging by the fireplace. "....yeah...he really would have..." she said with a small smile. It was not too long before they all turned in early to bed. Tomorrow would be a very busy day for Josephine after all...she only could hopped that Alm would make time to see her...

~*~

[pyrothecary]

okay so we have the separate Claude and Sylvain and Felix selfships which I have to now adjust because uhm. Eye opening Claudevain :3 I love them. :3

Also Byleth. I want M Byleth so bad. And Yuri. I keep remembering more pretty boys

then there’s the ones outside of fe3h like Berkut and Rinea poly

Alfonse, Innes, Lewyn, and Shigure are my beloved, I met them in fe heroes and got super gay. The canons are insane but I just turn off my brain

Then there’s Reyson, Líf, Hríd, Niles, Asugi, and Artur also because of FEH im so normal

I'm so sorry long answr

i am always so happy to spread my claudevain agenda... BUT THOSE ARE SUCH GOOD CHOICES not to be me but.. claude & sylvain are my go-to s supports <3 some of my favourite characters of all time even!!!!!! i play f!byleth for Them. and i totally understand enjoying felix he's so interesting i want to study him under a microscope

M!BYLETH SO TRUE i know he's the less popular byleth but i love him i would defend him to my last breath. someone said he looked like a greyhound once and i can't stop thinking about it. anyway,

YURI ALSO SO TRUE i haven't finished the dlc i've. actually barely started but i'm in love with him his post ts design is SO GOOD. HE IS SO BESUTIFUL. he is perfect to me and perfect FOR me

ASJFHDJEJFJRJKSF I HAVENT TALKED ABOUT SOV IN SO LOMG BUT YES I LOVE BERKUT. I LOVE HIM. i got stuck early on in the game years ago and haven't picked it up since so i don't know much abt rinea but uh what i do know is that they're so. in love. i mean yes there are the things that happen BUT HEYRE STILK SO IN LO

i was also a fan of lucas in that game i think. i don't.. remember much..... still.... man i need to finish it

WHWHWHAHAAAAA FEH!!!!! YEAH!!!!! i only play it to see my meow meows in different outfits but i do love some of the original characters!!!!! huge fan of líf alfonse and ASKR 💪💪💪💪 hríd and nott look Very Good but i don't know much about their personalities

Also i totally understand becoming interested in characters after seeing them in heroes that was so me before. i really liked leo kaden and keaton before i... actually played fates... and realized why it had such a controvwrsial rep 💀👍 BUT HAHA THAT ASIDE. I LIKED INNES TOO JUST BASED OFF DESIGN. also enjoy the homoerotic relationship he has goin with ephraim! if you like asugi i highly recommend checkin out the person he's based on - gaius from fire emblem awakening <3 (sorry awakening is my favourite game of all time ever every time i can shameless plug it i will)

[sexysilverstrider]

ill be honest while playing engage is fun so far the romantic narrative is. lackluster. i saw some S dialogues n even saw some of tbe cgs and it looks less romantic like how it usually does in otome games. yes i know fire emblem is not an otome game and ever since awakening they kind of amped up the romantic aspect of the game.

in my opinion 3 houses did a great job catering to the otome aspect (dimitri is still number 1 wanted by female players) and the cgs are so romantic since the male love interests has cgs cater to typical female players and female love interests has cgs cater to the male players. plus i love how 3 houses has the romantic subplots (ballroom tower n goddess tower scenes) inserted in the story without making it out of place.

of course awakening has romance as its core plot so the fact that that narrative became a hit i guess developers try to roll with it. fates is a either you hate it or love it game with the romantic narratives so well loved (mstly by eastern fandom) or so hated (mstly by western fandom). im still bitter they removed some mechanics in the jpnese game lmao

which brings me to engage. the story seems fun. seems campy. comedic even. ive seen some of the alear dialogues that hv romantic undertones w other characters and tbh the only 1 that has a natural progression is alear with alfred. i dnt mind alear not getting ALL the romantic supports but i am disappointed that they removed paired endings for all characters

now of course im not saying fe is only interesting when its an otome game. i love fe7 A Lot coz the plots so good and the romance in it fits so well and so perfect (eliwood/ninian n jaffar/nino) n even lyns support with kent still has me in a grip. matthews grief over losing leila still hurts me and to think he slowly heals with serra gives me the uwus. even fe8 and fe echoes were interesting with their paired plot (seth dealing w his feelings for eirika and berkut losing his humanity n rinea at the same time)

my point here is: im kinda annoyed at the direction engage went with. the lack of proper romantic subplot be it compulsory (fea n fe7) or optional (fe3h n fates) its like they want to cater to Everyone that it ends up not meeting any expectations. if anything it is only met in the middle